Summer programs are a wonderful opportunity to explore extensive creative ventures with young people at West End House. This year, many West End House youth took part in anew “Create A Musical” club. This is a full-summer program where members create their own “jukebox musical,” meaning that members influenced the lyrics, script and choreography!
Members wrote their own lyrics to accompany existing scores and had full autonomy over the musical’s storyline and characters. The club met three times a week for seven weeks, drafting the musical from scratch and bouncing creative ideas off one another, resulting in some wonderful elements like the character Pickleman (who is, you guessed it, both a pickle and a man). After weeks of work, they performed the musical for an overjoyed audience during the final week of summer programs.
Their final product was a tale of humans and mythical creatures learning to live as one, mixed with a bit of magic and mayhem. In total, the musical contained three musical numbers, nine scenes, and twenty-two characters. Two Next Step Academy teen members served as assistant directors, our Bloomberg Arts Intern from Boston Arts Academy served as the technical director, and three members on the dance team (Ayla, Oona and Bianca) choreographed! The program fostered creativity and teamwork among the cast and crew while introducing them to diverse performing arts opportunities beyond singing and dancing, such as scriptwriting and directing.
Thank you to all parents, community members, and friends for coming to support all performers and crew members. West End House Arts programming aims to capture interest, build skills, and kickstart deeper appreciation & understanding through the arts. If you’d like to learn more about how you can support our art programs, click below to learn about ways you can get involved, or email Kayla Tomas at ktomas@westendhouse.org.
